Big jump in investment applications
BUSINESS: Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI) Secretary-General, Atchaka Sibunruang, has revealed that 882 projects applied for investment promotion in the first half of 2011, with a total investment value of B247.1 billion.
Saturday 23 July 2011, 03:57AM
Ms Atchaka said the value reached was 24 per cent ahead of the BoI’s target for the year of of B400 billion. The number of projects was up by 43.2 per cent from 616 in the same period last year, while the value was up 33.6 per cent on the B185 billion recordec in the first half of 2010.
The rising trend had started at the beginning of the year, she added, though the biggest bulge came in June when there were 180 applications with a combined investment value of B43.6 billion, mostly due to big investors and entrepreneurs expanding production capacity.
Businesses for which investors seek privileges with the highest investment value included vehicle-related equipment, machinery and metals (226 projects worth B77 billion); service and public utility with (180 projects, B46.3 billion); chemicals, paper and plastic (126 projects, B41.3 billion); electronic products and electrical appliances (130 projects, B35.4 billion); and processed agricultural products and foods (129 projects, B25.7 billion).
She said foreign direct investment projects seeking investment promotions in the first six months of this year totalled B167.2 billion spread across 522 projects, up 70 per cent value-wise from B98.3 billion, and 39 per cent in numbers from 375 projects in the corresponding period last year.
Japanese investors remained by far the most active applicants with applications totalling B72.4 billion coming in from that country, a rise of 87 per cent from the B38.6 billion seen in the first half of 2010. The number of Japanese projects was up 80 per cent, from 151 to 272.
A long way behind, Singapore investors came second, applying for 31 project promotions with an investment value of B16.6 billion, more than double the B8.2 billion from the same period the year before, while South Korean investors ranked third, seeking promotions valued at B6.1 billion for 21 projects, up five times from about one billion baht from the same period last year.
Meanwhile, Chinese investors (excluding Hong Kong) are seeking 18 project promotions valued at B23.1 billion, up 232 per cent from B6.9 billion from the same period the year before, and investors from Hong Kong applied for 13 projects with an investment value at B10.3 billion, up 285 per cent from B2.7 billion year-on-year. – MCOT
